1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus that recommends a program suitable for a user preference to a user.
2. Background Art
In the modern information civilization society, the amount of information provided by various media such as broadcast programs and the Internet is immeasurable. In particular, the influence of television on viewers is great. The ownership rate of televisions is extremely high. Televisions are installed in almost all households. Broadcast content distributed from each broadcasting station is viewed by an unspecified large number of people. In such situations, when a user views a program, the user is interested not only in commercials and program content but also in information related to the program, for example, information on costumes of performers and information on locations.
Recently, development of digital technologies enables a large volume of information related to image content and programs to be stored. Further, HDD (Hard Disk Drive)-based recorders, personal computers having functions of recording and viewing television programs and the like have appeared. Accordingly, techniques that allow a user to register and store information on an interesting scene when viewing a program and then present the information to the user after viewing have actively been researched.
WO2003/021943 discloses a technique where a user designates an article by voice at a scene in which the article that the user wants to purchase appears when viewing a program and then the user accesses article registration information and receives detailed information on the article, which the user wants to purchase, after viewing the program. JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-031441 A discloses a technique that utilizes a broadcast program, such as a program on travels, and information on the Internet corresponding to the broadcast program and registers the program and the information along with location information and thereby generates navigation data suiting interest and preference of a user. JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2007-115220A discloses a technique where an article that a user is required to remember is preliminarily registered on a mobile terminal and then selection of a registered article memo list allows connection to a store terminal, thereby enabling detailed information to be acquired. Further, when the user approaches the store terminal, a notification screen of the article in the store is displayed from the memo list recorded in the mobile terminal.
The method of WO2003/021943 has a problem that the user forgets that he/she is interested after viewing the program and does not perform search behavior and the like. Accordingly, a technique is required that presents information having been registered according to the interest of the user in a situation optimal to the user. There is a problem that, if information is presented to the user from the preliminarily created information as with JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-031441 A, the presented information is not necessarily information required by the user in the situation. Accordingly, a technique is required that presents an appropriate piece of information from the information having preliminarily interested the user.